England U18 Men's squad to face France

28 Feb 2024 | 4 min |

England U18 Men's squad to face France

Jonthan Pendlebury has selected a 24-player squad to travel to Chalon-sur-Saône to play France on Saturday 9 March.

The fixture takes place at Rugby Tango Chalonnais, kicking-off at 17:00 CET and is a capped fixture at U18 age-grade level.

Fifteen players are introduced into the squad, which consists of players from nine Premiership Rugby academies as well as the RFU-centralised Midlands West and Midlands Central academies.

In the most recent meeting of the European pathway sides, Pendlebury’s England emerged 41-0 victors in the 2023 U18 International Series in South Africa, scoring seven unanswered tries in the first Test of their three-game series.

The squad are set to feature in this year’s Six Nations Rugby U18 Men’s Festival, with fixtures against Wales, Scotland and the recently introduced Georgia now confirmed at the Stadio Sergio Lanfranchi in Parma, Italy.

England U18 Men’s head coach Jonathan Pendlebury said: “Myself, Will and the staff are really excited to bring this new cohort into the U18 level here at England Rugby. We’re aiming to give them positive experiences on and off the field, with what promises to be a really exciting trip across the Channel.

“In what will be our first outing of the season, France pose a great challenge for us to overcome and will prepare us nicely for our trip to Parma next month. This is a fantastic opportunity to not only prepare for our U18 Six Nations Festival, but also to implement our core values of exploration and adaptation as we ready these young men to excel as England internationals.”